For You
by thisishowiloveyou
Summary: I'm just letting everyone know...i love Orihime! So here is one more story about her and...of course...a man.
1. Chapter 1

For You

What did it take to be a bad friend? Deceit, disloyalty, deliberate disregard for another's feelings?

_One out of three isn't that bad_, Renji figured.

Not that it mattered too much. In a couple of weeks he'd be done with his duties in the real world and would return to Soul Society, where things were simpler. He had his friends (whom he missed), his Vice-Captain position (which still impressed even him), and his captain (who was a cold bastard, but one he worshipped nonetheless). There wasn't anything in Soul Society that could make him feel so guilty. Nothing that caused him to be standing outside of a quiet house in the middle of the night, in the rain and thunder, staring at a bedroom window.

_I feel like an idiot. Shit. I'm going back to Urahara's. No. Shit. I already came here. What for again? Shit. I'm.._

"Renji?"

The shock that flooded Renji's body and made him cry out also caused him to blindly pivot to his right, bringing him face to face with the last person he wanted to see.

"What are you doing? Why have you been watching my window for an hour? You're being a creep."

"Ichigo! I…um…I just wanted to make sure everything was alright here. There's lots of hollow activity and I was just making sure."

"I see."

"What? I was looking out for you asshole."

"More like looking in for me," Ichigo snickered.

"I'm leaving."

"I'll put out some snacks in the bushes for you so you won't get hungry later."

"Fuck off."

Renji tried to exude confidence as he trudged away from his laughing friend. Without thinking, he set out for Urahara's shop, where he'd been staying for the past week. Even with his emotions (which he'd never admit he had) as out of control as they were, he still felt calm at the former Gotei captain's home. Urahara seemed to have taken a liking to his young guest and often trained with him during their down time. He showed Renji how to better control his kidou and how to sustain his bankai for longer stretches of time. In return, Renji trained Sado and Orihime as best he could so that his host could work with Ichigo.

_But that's how all this shit started_, Renji realized, and faltered in his path. He stood for a moment in the middle of the street he'd been crossing and stared into the night.

Maybe it was the red hair. Or that occasionally devilish smile. Or the remarkable abilities. Or the incredibly loud honking that attracted him so strongly.

Wait, what? _Shit!_

Renji dodged the oncoming car just as it was about to kill him. He allowed himself to be briefly impressed with his ground roll and then got to his feet yelling obscenities at the fading headlights of the offending auto. He spent the rest of the walk back to Urahara's cursing the real world and its stupid machines that were operated by stupid people doing stupid things and leading stupid lives and damnit did he have to see that beautiful face every time he blinked?

The sliding door was open when Renji arrived, making him uneasy. He scanned the area around the house briefly but saw no one and felt no strange reiatsu around. He slipped through the opening quietly and secured it behind him. The whole house was dark except for dim light in the very back of the hallway-Urahara's room. Even before Renji had reached the other man's door a carefree voice called out softly,

"Please Abarai-kun! Come in! Come in!"

Renji did as he was told and opened the door. There, in the middle of the room, Urahara Kisuke sat completely bare and cross-legged.

"Uh…Yes Urahara-san?" _Play it off Play it off Play it off…_

"Do I look good naked?" Urahara grinned as Renji look stunned. "I'm joking! Of course I look wonderful. But that's not really why I left the front door open for you. I have something incredibly important to talk to you about."

"What would that be?" Renji asked as he stepped into the room, eyes darting from the bedroll to the wall the floor, anywhere but Urahara.

"I've noticed that you've been quite distracted lately, the present moment excluded. I wonder if you realize that it's been showing in your training?" Urahara drawled cheerily.

"I…um…yes, I realize that I've been a little imprecise with my sword…"

"You almost cut Sado-kun's head off yesterday."

"Pretty damn imprecise." Renji corrected apologetically, his eyes scanning the wall behind Urahara.

Urahara used Renji's eagerness to keep his eyes averted as an opportunity to scan the handsome young shinigami's face. "Yes, well, as unobservant as I am it has finally come to me why you are so distracted. Has it come to you yet?"

Renji's looked at Urahara, surprised. "Sir?" Urahara raised his eyebrows.

"I…um…well, I won't be distracted anymore. Believe me. I won't be at all," the highly confused man stammered.

"Ah. Well. That's it then. Good night, Abarai."

Renji bowed briefly and turned to leave.

"Oh, Abarai? Consider taking the advice of a devilishly handsome slightly older man. Love is harder to deny than even death."

Renji didn't turn around, but thanked Urahara quietly. He made his way to his room slowly, undressed slowly, laid down slowly, and let his heart open, slowly.

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The next day Renji was busy trying to kept his word and not unleash hell with his bankai when Urahara found him.

"Abarai-kun, your friends are here." Urahara giggled.

Renji turned around to see Ichigo and Orihime walking up, smiling.

_ShitShitShitShitShit_

"Hey guys, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, avoiding both sets of eyes.

"We came to work with you. Urahara told us you were getting sloppy," Ichigo answered with a snicker.

"WHAT? Urahara-san! I am not! He's lying, I'm fine. You both can go."

Orihime stuck out her small hands and waved them in front of her. "Renji-kun! It's ok, we all lose control sometimes. A lot of the time it helps to have your friends around," She smiled and took his hand, leading him away.

"I'll work with him first Kurosaki-kun!"

Renji couldn't help the fluttering in his belly.

"Heh…heh...Inoue…you've improved so much…" Renji gasped, hands on his knees.

"Thank you! I practice by myself at night to get better. A lot of practice can get done during the dark." She smiled up at him from her position on the ground where she had knelt to catch her breath. He smiled back.

Orihime blushed and looked down. "Renji-kun, you and Ichigo are really close, right?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Renji answered, not liking the way Ichigo's name sounded coming from her mouth.

"I just was…wondering…if you've noticed anything about the way he treats me sometimes. You know…I…this is such a silly question, really, I just didn't know who else to ask. Um, do you think he pays a little more attention to me now than he used to?" She was stammering and blushing and Renji's heart was breaking.

"I guess yeah, he does pay more attention now. Maybe he' s still concerned that you're the weakest one out of all of us," he told her, adding the last part out of pure jealousy.

"Oh, ok. Yeah, that might be it. I just wasn't sure," she smiled brightly at him. "Thanks, Renji-kun! I knew I could count on you to tell me the truth!"

With that, she walked away and Renji felt like a total asshole. He sighed and looked up, smacking Zabimaru against the side of his foot.

_Ichigo…I don't mean to act this way. We're like brothers. Brothers don't do this, they don't feel this way._

Renji didn't notice that Ichigo was watching him.

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Orihime was walking home slowly. She was confused. Renji had been lying, she knew that much. Ichigo didn't think that she was the weakest. He had told her so two nights ago at her apartment where he had been showing up a lot lately. Renji knew what she knew. Ichigo liked her. Maybe a lot. At first, she thought that after everything they'd been through together, he just like talking to her because she understood. Rukia was the one he liked, she thought. Even though she and Renji were in Soul Society, Ichigo frequently went back to visit. Then he started showing up at her place and asking if she would like to go see Rukia and Renji as well. She always went, of course, and had a great time visiting the other Vice-Captains of the Gotei 13.

She laughed softly thinking of them.

It was Kira who she spent a lot time with exploring Soul Society. He was quiet and shy, but seemed to like her chattiness. She liked that he was so gentle and still so powerful. It gave her hope for herself. Shuhei was the one who trained with her. He opened up to her as she told him of her life in the real world, her friends, her lost family. He told her of his life and his hero, Muguruma Kensei. She liked that man, too. He trained with both of them and she laughed again to think about the adoring way that Shuhei watched the former captain. She was close to many shinigami, and it was that, she thought, that brought Ichigo closer to her. He seemed to notice that a lot of males were paying attention to her, so he took notice too.

Orihime sighed as she climbed the stairs to her apartment. She had asked Renji something she already knew that answer to because…

"Inoue!"

"Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed and through her arms out to catch the railing before she fell.

"I'm sorry! Oh, I didn't mean to scare you, I thought you'd notice me," Ichigo apologized.

"No problem! No problem! I was just thinking a lot. What's going on? Would you like to come in?" She stood in front of him looking up and smiling. He smiled down at her in that charming way he had.

"Yeah, thanks," he answered softly.

Inside the apartment they took off their shoes and Inoue led the way to her table where they sat down cross legged. Ichigo sat very close to her.

"Inoue, how was your day?"

"Good, after I left Urahara's I went to the park and played soccer with Tatsuki. That's where I just came from. How about you?" she asked, fingering her skirt.

"Great," he answered slowly, "I just hung around there for awhile after you left. I was just on my way home and thought I'd come by and say hi." He was looking at her, she noticed, but not her eyes. As she looked at him looking at her ear, she felt something rough sliding over her right hand. She looked down to see Ichigo's two middle fingers slowly running over her skin. Unsure of what to do about it, she froze. She suddenly could hear the hands moving on the clock on the far wall, the hum of bees outside the window, Ichigo's held breath. His fingers moved slowly down her hand to her wrist, then back again towards her fingers. His movements seemed to awaken her shocked nerves and when his fingertips reached hers, she twisted her wrist let his hand lay in her palm. She hadn't counted on his hand being so warm, or the skin so rough. His skin was…more enticing than she had thought it would be.

"Inoue," he whispered. "I really came by just to see you again."

"I know, Kurosaki, I know." She closed her hand on his and closed her eyes on the whole romantic scene.

_I really don't know about you anymore. _


	2. Chapter 2 Thank you

It wasn't bad, what happened

It wasn't bad, what happened. But it wasn't good.

Orihime hadn't meant for her breath to catch in her throat. She hadn't meant to sigh softly when Kurosaki-kun (she'd have to start calling him Ichigo, she guessed) kissed her forehead. She _definitely _hadn't meant to moan when he pulled her by the waist into him. And while she would always remember the sweet look on his face, a perfect mixture and adoration and wonder, when he entered her, she couldn't make herself believe that she loved him. Him. Him and his emotive eyes. Him and his charming smile. Hm. Maybe it was good.

She really had expected more pain though. It seemed that her whole life women had been telling her about the pain. She had read novels with love scenes that depicted the brave but inexperienced girl, really a heroine but brought to shaky submissiveness by the kind but often brutally just hero. Always there was the first pain of love making for the woman, and the man always seems too wrapped up in his own business to notice.

But there was no pain, no awkwardness. Just Ichigo, moaning softly in her ear with pleasure.

_InoueInoueInoueInoue_

She smiled at that and felt a warm tightening in her abdomen. She sat up straighter in her chair and rubbed her shoes together. A soft tug on her hair gently reminded her of Ichigo's presence in the school desk behind her. She dropped her arm to her side as the teacher wrote something (who cares?) on the board. With only a moment's hesitation she swung her arm back and tickled his knee. A soft laugh was her reward and she smiled again. Maybe she'd been wrong about her feelings.

That late afternoon Orihime watched as the sun came in through the apartment windows colored a deep gold and caused ribbons of dust to swim through the air above her. Ichigo was moaning on top of her but she couldn't let go yet. She had been very near, but had opened her eyes at the last second and seen the gold dust in the air. Something about it made her heart beat slower. Ichigo had just smiled and kissed her, saying good, he didn't want her to climax without him anyway, even though she knew he was lying. But watching the gold dust suddenly made Orihime feel very…unfaithful…so she closed her eyes and clutched Ichigo so tightly to her that he raised his head and looked her in the eye.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, momentarily halting his pelvis.

"No, no, keep going. Please don't stop. I just want you to stay as close as possible to me," she whispered.

He smiled and kissed her jaw. "I love you Orihime," he murmured.

She opened her mouth to say it back but he hit a certain stride that made them both cry out and spasm so he wouldn't have heard her anyway.

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Renji couldn't sleep. Staring up into the darkness above his mat wasn't helping; pacing hadn't helped either. Nor had watching the silhouettes of trees outside of the window. He sighed and sat up.

_Maybe Urahara's awake._

The man was actually asleep, for once. Renji knew him to be obnoxiously loud at night, talking to himself, making food, blowing things up. But on the one damn night Renji needed to sit with someone (talking was optional to Renji when he was upset) the bastard was sound asleep face down in his pillow and spread eagle across his bed roll. Renji frowned and started to close the door.

"Amur-eyeeee, ooo om en…"

"Oh shit, Urahara, are you speaking?"

The blond former-captain turned his head slightly. "Abarai, do come in."

Renji entered and stood awkwardly staring at the floor.

"You are more than welcome to come closer. Or do you prefer me naked?" Urahara giggled softly, "You pervert."

"What? No! I just wanted to see if you were awake because I was awake and that's all," Renji fumbled for words and spoke too quickly, of which he was acutely aware. He stared passionately into the floor.

"I always get this way when someone is on my mind, too. I assume it's worse for whoever is thinking of me, poor darlings. Come, Abarai, tell…"

Renji looked up to when Urahara paused, thinking it was for effect. But the man was looking down to his left, perfectly still.

"Actually, Abarai-kun, I'm quite tired. Go walk in front for a few laps, burn some energy. This will help, I sure." And with that, Urahara flung himself forward face down into his pillow. Renji could hear him snoring even before he made it out the door. He trudged out of the house depressed. He had thought Urahara wanted him to stay, but had been rebuffed. Eccentric bastard. He only made it a few steps into the yard when he felt the other young man's presence. His heart skipped a beat.

"Eh, Ichigo. Come out. Or are you the creeper now?' he called. Ichigo walked out of the shadows, hands in his pockets. He grinned.

"Ha. At least I wasn't staring at your window."

"You're a bitch. What are you doing here?"

Ichigo blushed and lowered his eyes. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"'Bout what?" Renji looked nonchalantly at the black, clear sky and held his breath.

"I, uh, I wanted to say that I know how…I mean…I wanted you to be the first to know, cause I thought you should. That, um, me and Orihime, we're kinda together now. Like that way together."

"Cool, man. Congrats." Renji managed the words but couldn't manage the grin that would have made them seem sincere.

"I guess I wanted to know how…what you thought of it," Ichigo's eyes were scanning Renji's face now. Renji's eyes were scanning the sky.

"No stars tonight. The clouds must be covering them. So we can't see them."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"But they're still there. Their light is just muffled by the clouds, not destroyed. No matter what they're still there."

"Yeah, I know Renji."

"Ichigo, I'm happy for you."

"You know that you're my best friend. I'd do…or not do…anything you didn't want me to." Ichigo told him quietly.

"What are we, in love? Get the hell outta here. Go see your girl before I start getting the wrong idea about you," Renji final managed to smile at his friend, who, completely naïve as he was, gave him a relieved smile back.

"I'll come by tomorrow after school. See ya!" he grinned, turned, and left.

"See ya." Renji sighed, stood, and tried to keep from coming apart.

_Thank you, Ichigo. You saved me from being a horrible friend. I always knew you loved her._

_And you finally realized that I love her too. _

_Thank you. _


	3. One Step

Chpt. III

One Step

Orihime was squinting, far away as she was from him. His sword swung through the air in strong, deliberate motions and she was caught up watching the way his muscles contracted, then released. By now she had seen him without a top on a million times, but she just couldn't take her eyes off of the man. Urahara was watching all of the young men with kindly critical eyes, every so often adjusting their stances or their holds. Ichigo, Renji, Ishida, and Sado were about to engage in a mock battle and none of them were paying enough attention to her to notice that she was staring.

"You're eyes are all wrapped around that boy," Yoruichi said quietly, startling Orihime. She turned quickly to smile at the older woman.

"Yoruichi-san! I didn't know you were here," Orihime answered sweetly, trying to steer the beautiful woman to a different topic.

Yoruichi dropped to sit heavily on the ground next to Orihime. "I got here yesterday. It was a long night. Kisuke never did need much sleep," She told the girl. Her eyes followed the blonde man as he instructed the others. Orihime nodded.

"I know how you feel for him, Orihime. How could I not see it? A woman can recognize when another woman is in love." Yoruichi's voice was flat but she gave Orihime a sympathetic sidelong glance. The girl blushed and looked away to draw circles in the dirt with the tip of her finger.

"Love is a strong word Yoruichi-san. It's…um…well…complicated."

Yoruichi laughed, startling Orihime again and making her look up.

"Of course it is, but it doesn't make it any less true. I've seen the way you two look at each other," Yoruichi let her laugh die off and returned to seriousness, "and I agree, this is very complicated. You do know that his best friend loves you…"

"Yes. I've known for quite awhile."

"What are you going to do about it?"

Orihime watched the man again as she thought. Yoruichi watched as Orihime's eyes became glassy with tears.

"Yoruichi-san…" she began but choked with tears. She was immediately taken into the other woman's breasts, which would have made her laugh if she wasn't so miserable. As she sobbed and Yoruichi rubbed her back, Orihime opened her eyes long enough to look again at the man she loved. Renji moved left, right, across, back, his dark red hair shining with golden highlights that shimmered with his movements like dust floating in afternoon sunlight.

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Renji felt like an idiot. Curled up in his covers, hiding from Urahara. As much as he owed the man for taking him in during his stay in the real world, he couldn't get used to Urahara's affinity for being naked around him. Urahara said it was nice to be able to "cut loose" around a man again. Tessai worshipped him too much for Urahara to feel comfortable being bare around him, Jinta was too little for Urahara to not feel like a molester, and Ichigo kept calling him a creep.

Renji, unobservant as he usually was, had caught on to Urahara's game. He was trying to get Renji to talk, to articulate his feelings, to get "bare". Renji appreciated Urahara's creativity but he just wasn't the type of man to express his emotions to someone else.

He sighed heavily and flung the covers to his waist. He stretched his arms over his head and sighed again. She was on his mind at all times now, but so was her lucky boyfriend. Ichigo meant the world to Renji, and now Ichigo had everything he wanted. So Renji was happy. Happy, Happy, Happy. Orihime was a good friend, too and now she had everything she wanted so he was happy about that too. Happy enough to spend his next and last few days in the real world sprawled across his bedroll with his chest constricting around a too-slowly beating heart.

There was nothing that could make him admit his love for Orihime now. She had chosen a lover and, he told himself, she had chosen well. He was so depressed from thinking about her that he played dumb and didn't move when Urahara snuck into his room. He pretended not the notice as the ex-captain of the Gotei 13 crawled across the floor giggling. He just sighed when Urahara jumped in front of his face yelling surprise! He smiled a little, though, when Urahara laid down next to him in the same frustrated position and said quietly,

"Eventually, Abarai, we gather ourselves together again and go on. There is nothing else for us to do but move forward."

They stayed like that for a very long time.

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"Renji! Man, come over, I got a new game and I wanna teach you how to play before you leave tomorrow. Stop pressing the buttons on the phone-the beeping is making my head hurt. You have to learn how to play a video game…stop pressing the buttons damnit…so come over!"

"OK, I-CHI-GO. I WILL BE THERE SOON!"

"Dude, stop yelling into the phone, I can hear you when you just talk normally. Seriously, you have to stop pressing the numbers, you idiot."

"OK! I'LL SEE YOU SOON! And screw you. Bye!"

He hung up and passed the cell phone back to Urahara, who stared at him. Yoruichi was laughing into his shoulder.

"There aren't any phones in Soul Society," he told them gruffly and huffed out.

"What do you think, Yoruichi?"

The woman calmed to a giggle. "Nothing is unchangeable, Kisuke." She answered.

He frowned and looked out the door, worried about his young friend. Yoruichi, as only a true friend would do, relieved Kisuke of his doubts by slipping her robe off to the floor. Urahara Kisuke immediately decided to worry more about Renji…later.

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"Kurosaki Ichigo…loser outcast of the loser group in LoserLand!"

"That's the dumbest thing you've ever said. Shut up and concentrate, I'm about to kill you!"

Renji and Ichigo both leaned forward to stare even more intently at the TV screen. It had taken Renji awhile to get the hang of pushing so many buttons and little stick-like projections on the controller, but he didn't become Vice-Captain of the Sixth Division by being a slow learner. So here they were, two men sitting on the living room floor yelling at each other while staring straight ahead, wielding little plastic controller-weapons. They'd been at it for over three hours and weren't about to slow down, much to Ichigo's little sisters' annoyance.

"Renji, you're such an incompetent competitor. I'm really gonna miss kicking the crap outta you when you go back to Soul Society."

"HA! I'll miss watching you cry at my feet even more!"

"YOU KICKED DIRT IN MY EYE THAT TIME! I DIDN'T CRY!"

The Kurosaki girls sat in the kitchen and rolled their eyes. Men.

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Orihime had thought to go by Ichigo's tonight. She wanted to surprise him with the new panties she had bought. The nice woman at the store had told her that the shiny green thong was much more flattering than the lacy black boy-shorts, so Orihime had bought the boy-shorts because the nice woman at the store looked like a hooker. She'd gone home and put on loose dress with a flattering neckline, some make-up and perfume. Ichigo would be so excited. He was her boyfriend after all, and she had wanted him for such a long time. Now that she had him, she was happy. He was still the same man she had fallen in love with years ago, but now all of his devotion was given to her. She would show him how much that meant to her.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to climb up to his window quietly enough not to wake his father. She took off her heels (she wasn't doing so hot walking in them anyway), stuck one in each side of her bra, and started up the drain pipe. Convinced that it was going to snap in half and she was going to fall straight onto her back in the yard breaking every bone in her body and seriously embarrassing herself, she was relieved to reach her lover's roof. She allowed herself a few huffs of exhaustion and rubbed her burning arms. After a few seconds, she tapped softly on the glass and peered into the darkness. She saw a male shape rise from the bed and make his way over to the window. When he pulled it up she meant to seductively lower herself into the room, making sure her skirt got hiked up a little in the process. She hadn't, however, realized that she was leaning on the window in her fatigue. She less-than-seductively tumbled into his arms crying "Oh!"

"Inoue? Are you okay? Geez, did you climb all the way up here?"

Orihime froze. That was definitely not Ichigo's voice. And now that she thought about it, these arms holding her up were more muscular than the ones in which she had recently become accustomed to being held.

"R-Renji-kun? What are you doing here?"

Renji tilted her gently so that she was standing on the floor. "I'm spending the night with Ichigo. He just left though. He went to Ishida's to see if he could borrow a sewing kit."

"Why?"

"He lost a bet with me. Don't ask. You'll see later," Renji told her and laughed softly. Orihime found herself smiling in the darkness.

"Sorry he isn't here. Um, you smell really good though. I can go sleep on the couch if you wanna wait here for him."

"No! No. I mean, no. That's fine. I'll wait here with you," she blushed, "if that's ok with you?"

Renji would've been an idiot not to notice the excitement in her voice. "Yeah, um, yeah, sure. Here, let me find the light…"

"That's ok, you were sleeping, I don't want to upset your eyes. It's bad, you know, to change suddenly from light to dark. You're eyes become stressed! So that's bad…" Her voice trailed off as she realized that she was babbling. It was just that Renji was standing very close to her; she only had to step one foot forward and she would be touching him. She held her breath and waited for Renji to say something. Finally,

"Yeah," he whispered, "Let's leave the lights off."


	4. Chapter 4

Chpt IV

A Good Man

Infidelity sticks to the bones of the disloyal stronger than flesh. It moves with the faithless like muscle contracting, relaxing, but always a part of its host. Worse, the face of those that were offended carves a place on the eyelids of the offender, who prays for blindness. Betrayal hides in the slow breath of a man, the blush of a woman, in their itchy fingertips, their agitation. Unleashing it is so easy.

As Orihime stood in front of Renji she thought about what it would be like to touch him. She could guess at the hardness of his muscles but not the texture of his skin. She knew what it would be like to hug him, but not where he would put his arms on her or how tightly he would hold on. She could imagine what his lips might feel like pressed to her forehead but not how warm his breath would be, how long he would linger there.

Renji stood looking down at the darkness that veiled the top of Orihime's head. He could feel her breath against his chest come in a steady rhythm, and wondered how it was she could even breathe. He clutched at the soft pants Ichigo had given him to wear and called his friend's face to his mind. Ichigo laughing. Ichigo talking about something pointless. Ichigo eating with his mouth open like a heathen.

_IchigoIchigoIchigoIchigo. _

But just as he was about to move away from his beautiful friend, she made a soft whimper. His muscles tightened and his nails dug into his palms. He forced his eyes up to the dark ceiling when he felt tiny fingers lay gently on his abdomen. He was going to rip a hole through Ichigo's pants.

Orihime had only wanted to feel his skin. Though she was now familiar with the geography of men, this particular map intrigued her. As she touched her fingers to Renji's abs, she knew that it would be a long road back from here. His skin was soft…remarkably so. Warm and tight, but smooth like he had just put on lotion. Her palms gently joined her fingers on each side of his belly button and she heard his breathing stop. Something got a hold of her, a curiosity that wouldn't let her stop. She leaned forward slightly and pressed her hands into his belly.

Renji immediately closed the space between them, stopping when he felt her breasts press against his ribcage. He thought he heard her moan softly. He bent his head towards her. His fingers hovered just over her forearms; he could feel the fine hairs rise to meet his treacherous fingertips.

"Orihime," he began.

"Renji, I…"

"Please, I can't…"

"No, no I knew that, and then I just couldn't, but you…I.."

"Please don't make such sad noises," he whispered, finally saying something coherent.

"Please go back to Soul Society…"

"What?" he breathed.

"…knowing that I am a faithless woman, and a horrible friend," she sobbed.

Renji grabbed her arms and pulled her against him hard, burying his face in her hair.

"Orihime…I'm sorry…" he whispered. Orihime immediately lurched forward throwing her hands up to catch herself but feeling only air. She turned to look at the open window Renji had shunpoed through, and let herself hit the floor without bracing her fall. Ichigo found her there a few minutes later. Thinking she must be sick he pulled her into bed with him and held her, assuming that her apologies were because she had something planned that didn't work out. He wondered where Renji had gone.

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Urahara Kisuke kissed Yoruichi's shoulder before he left her in his bed. He walked out of the room with an open robe and troubled mind, knowing that that spike in reiatsu had been Renji's. Outside of the shop, he stood looking at the sky waiting to see if Renji would come back. Ragged breathing from behind told him Renji had indeed come back, and was getting better at moving quite quietly. The handsome ex-captain turned to his young friend.

"Abarai-kun…what happened?"

Renji didn't move from his kneeling position on the ground. He continued to gasp for breath.

"Abarai-kun, is Ichigo ok?"

Renji looked up through his long, unbound hair. "I'm leaving for Soul Society tonight."

"Why?"

"Your tests of strength are nothing compared to this. This I can't overcome."

"Did something happen?"

"Almost."

"Almost isn't something. So nothing happened."

"I wanted it to. I wanted to do something. I wanted to do something that would destroy our relationships."

"But you didn't do anything?"

"If I stay, I will."

Urahara considered this. When he answered, he spoke slowly. "Then leaving is the right thing to do. You cannot compromise your friendships. You're really very brave, and I'm proud of you. Orihime is a remarkable woman, but no one can take the place of your friends, and their trust in you. I'm glad to have gotten to know you."

Renji looked down at the dirt. "Thank you, Urahara-san. I'm glad to know you too, even if you are a dirty bastard sometimes."

Urahara couldn't think of any way to refute Renji's assertion. "Come on. I'll help you with the gate back home."

Renji nodded and stood up, leading the way back into the shop.

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Orihime crawled out of Ichigo's arms later that night and walked home. She hated a lot of things. If she didn't have these powers Ichigo would never have had any use for her and they never would have become friends. If she weren't so childish she would realize that Ichigo was the right man to be in love with and that Renji was not. She hated Renji for being so wonderful, Ichigo for being so blind, and herself for everything else. She kicked the sidewalk gently as she walked, the most violent she had ever been in her life.

"Watch out, my love. That sidewalk might get hurt."

Orihime gasped and flung herself around. Ichigo stood behind her with his hands in his pockets, smiling.

"I-Ichigo! What are you doing here?"

"Making sure you get home alright. You don't know what kinds of things happen at night."

Looking down, Orihime spoke softly. "You didn't have to follow me. I'd be just fine. I just felt like going home. So…so your dad wouldn't find us together, because that would be bad."

Ichigo cocked his head to the side and grinned at his uncomfortable girlfriend.

"You're beautiful when you lie."

Orihime's eyes jumped to his. "What? No…I…what?"

His grin faded into a wince. "Orihime, I know what's going on. I believe that you should be honest with the person you love. So I don't blame you for not telling me about how you felt for Renji. I'm not the man you love."

"Ichigo, no, please…"

"Renji hides it better than you do. He's back in Soul Society right now. I caught him before he left. He didn't even try to lie, but I already knew anyway. I thought I could make you love me again like you used to, when you didn't think I noticed. But my timing has always been a little off. I thought if I showed you how much I loved you, you would realize that I was the one to be with. But I still saw stare at him, and him stare at everything but you. I still noticed that he never looks at himself in a mirror anymore, and that you hide your face against me when we make love," Ichigo stopped and looked away at some bushes.

"You are the woman I love, Orihime, even if you do love my best friend and he loves you. So I'll just wait and see how things go. Renji is pretty broken up by it all. If he is what you want, I can't do anything about it. I love you, but I want you to love me…" his voice broke and he looked down. After a few moments he looked back up at her, smiling. "Please, Inoue. Turn around and walk home. I'll just stay behind and make sure you get there alright."

Orihime stared into the eyes of her broken-hearted lover and felt her stomach lurch.

"Kurosaki…"

"Inoue, please."

Orihime turned and began to walk, listening to his footsteps like the beat to song. It was a slow rhythm that her tears felt compelled to follow. She wondered why, if she did not love Ichigo, she had to keep her hands over her heart to prove to herself that it hadn't stopped beating.

A world away, the Vice-Captain of Division Six of the Gotei Thirteen stood staring at the white walls of the buildings around him. His arm burned where Ichigo had held it when Renji had confessed everything to him. His eyes burned from holding back tears of utter shame. Ichigo had done nothing but listen, thank Renji for telling the truth, and then say that everything would be ok, that he would definitely be ok no matter what. Then he had left. Urahara had followed.

Why, Renji wondered as he thought about his last weeks in the real world, was Ichigo the only person whose face he could clearly recall?


End file.
